Our youngest comes for a visit

Rio, our one year old grandson, is a go-getter, confident and unafraid of the world. He came to visit with the old-man, Knuckles. Might be Knuckle's last. Rio normally wears his hair down, down across his face. But today, Sandy insisted on a hair clip for this photo.

 

Knuckles loves to sing

 

Soon, Rio’s off to Portland, Maine to start a new life.

 

My oldest graduates .....

My oldest granddaughter, Miss Kaya Overholtzer graduated recently from Champlain College in (way up there) Burlington, Vermont. Within a matter of weeks, Kaya, with her degree in Digital Forensics, and a minor in Criminal Law, will be relocating to Chicago to take on a position with the international consulting firm, Charles River Associates.

 

A delightful, quaint picture below of her noted college found hanging on a wall. The current campus covers over an eight-block area of downtown with a large contemporary, modern administration courtyard at it’s center.

At the graduation reception with a small bouquet and degree in hand. 

 

A family dinner was held aboard the Spirit of Ethan Allen, while cruising out upon Lake Champlain. In the distorted distance below, an early evening view of the Adirondack mountains of upper New York state.

 

 

 

Two days later, I found myself in an isolation ward at the University of Vermont's Medical Center. I had left Florida with a slight upper respiratory issue due to what I thought were seasonal allergies. 

After the fourth day, I wasn't doing so well. The Urgent Care at the University’s Medical Center admitted me on the concerns that I might have Covid. Thankfully eight hours later, the RSV-PCR test results proved negative. Without the need for further quarantine, and the possibility of public isolation etc gone, that following morning I could actually fly home.

 

But again, so proud of our Kaya. She’s off to a great start.  (photo provided by my daughter, Crete)

 

 

play something

Siesta Key, late summer of '63

Not many friends while growing up, but I do remember these two .......

 

 

Jeff Smith (1953-2022)

Jeff Smith's self-portrait of his one-room shed.  Or, on the needed occasion, his "guest house".

a 50 year long career, sliding

It's down to this. Today photographing an overgrown property lot, for sale by a Latvian woman named Svetlana, in god-forsaken scrub outside Englewood, Fl.

 

 

And on the job, some 20 long years ago, in my prime wearing a fancy watch, shooting for the magazines.

a landmark's dead end

At the end of our road, a long single-lane dead end, a notable home is coming down. Today, one of only a few remaining early 20th century properties left on Siesta Key, recently (discreetly) sold for 12 million. Another landmark, the historic home that was situated there, is now being demolished and slowly hauled away with little attention paid.

The property majestically juts out on an extended peninsula overlooking a large majority of Sarasota's Roberts Bay. The home, originally built in 1926 for Sarasota's first city mayor, A. B. Edwards, was designed by Dwight James Baum, the noted architect of John Ringling's Ca' d' Zan, and of Sarasota County's iconic Courthouse. At the time, the Sarasota Herald described the home as, "Palatial in Appearances."

The most recent owner, the prominent Sarasota attorney, David S. Band, refurbished and remodeled the existing structure in 2003.

 

with a new view